UFC Fight Night 81 came and went, crowning a new Bantamweight Champion and producing a night of excitement that saw eight of it’s 13 bouts end inside the inside. Following the night of entertaining action, let’s take a look at which competitors from the evening we may no longer see go to work inside the UFC’s Octagon… ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK Tim Boetsch “The Barbarian” is now on a three fight losing streak inside the Octagon and is 2-6 in his last eight bouts, so I think it is all but guaranteed that he will be receiving his walking papers from the promotion, following this past Sunday night’s disappointing second round knockout against fellow veteran Ed Herman. He had a nice run at 185-pounds when first making the drop down to the division, putting together four wins in a row, but it has been tough times for Boetsch since then. Just days away from turning 35 years of age, I think it will be a coin-flip whether Boetsch decides to hang up the gloves or if we see him inside the Bellator cage, but one thing seems for sure; I don’t think we will ever see him back inside the Octagon. Daron Cruickshank “The Detroit Superstar” is coming off a third round rear naked choke submission loss to Paul Felder at this past Sunday night’s UFC Fight Night 81 in Boston. Cruickshank was arguably up 2-0 headed into the third round, where Felder took over and eventually finished the TUF 15 veteran off with a choke. Both lightweights were on two fight losing streaks headed into the contest and knowingly had their backs against the waii, and with Felder saving his job with the win, there is a good chance Cruickshank will now be getting released from the promotion. He gave a good fight and is always known to put on a show, so I would like to see the UFC give him another chance, which they sometimes do with fighters coming off three straight losses (Alex Caceres and James Te Huna being recent ones that come to mind). It’s three straight rear naked choke submission losses for Cruickshank, so that makes things look a little worse. I think there’s a decent chance that they keep him around for one more fight, but I would not be at all surprised to see his name as part of the next round of cuts. There’s a fairly good chance we’ve seen the last of “The Detroit Superstar” inside the Octagon, and if he does indeed receive his walking papers, I would expect him to put a couple wins together on the regional circuit and get back to the big show.
